POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS OF HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (HPLC) AND GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY IN VETERINARY AND DAIRY SCIENCES

Published: November 18, 2011

By: Shakoor Ahmad

Summary

Chromatography is a common term used for a family of laboratory techniques, used for separation of the components of complex mixtures. Chromatography involves a sample being dissolved in a mobile phase, which may be a gas (in case of gas chromatography) or a liquid (in case of liquid chromatography). The mobile phase is then forced through an immobile stationary phase called the column. The mobile and stationary phases are chosen such that components of the sample have differing solubility in each phase. A component which is quite soluble in the stationary phase will take longer to travel through it than a component which is not very soluble in the stationary phase but very soluble in the mobile phase. As a result of these differences in mobility, sample components will become separated from each other as they travel through the stationary phase. In any analytical laboratory or bio-processing industry, the need to separate, identify and purify a particular product of interest (e.g. drug residue in milk or meat) from a complex mixture is a necessary and important step. There are different methods used for separation of those mixtures, of which chromatography is a vital separation process for two important reasons: Firstly, it can separate complex mixtures with great precision and accuracy. Even nearly identical components, such as proteins that may only vary by a single amino acid, can be separated with chromatography. In fact, chromatography can potentially purify and separate any soluble or volatile substance if the right adsorbent material (stationary phase), carrier fluid (mobile phase), and operating conditions are used. Secondly, chromatography is a non-destructive separation technique and can be used to separate delicate products. This also means that it can be coupled to other analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry. For these reasons, chromatography is well suited to a variety of uses in the field of biotechnology and related disciplines. Chromatography has many applications in the field of veterinary science. During my talk I will focus on the two most commonly used chromatographic techniques i.e. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Gas chromatography (GC) and will identify the potential areas of veterinary and dairy sciences where these technique can be used. Keywords: chromatography, veterinary sciences, HPLC, GC

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